Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education A Research Agenda (1985) / Chapter Skim
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5. Research on New Learning Systems
5. Research on New Learning Systems
Pages 39-50
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From page 39... ...
. RESEARCH ON INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SOFTWARE Computer microworlds provide new capabilities for teaching science and technology because they make apparent things that students usually cannot see (diSessai 1984)
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From page 40... ...
, groups of students run competitive ice cream stands, and they must calculate how to make the most money and defend their pricing strategies to other students in their group. At the same time, microworlds can be used to facilitate active learning by using effective tutoring strategies.
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From page 41... ...
Microsystems research is distinguished from the microworlds approach discussed in the preceding section in that it explicitly concerns itself simultaneously with the curriculum content and the social organization of instruction. Three kinds of Microsystems are of special interest: within-classroom activity centers, community-based after-school centers, and mixed institutional structures.
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From page 42... ...
or Computer experts.. Each center resembles within-classroom activity centers, raised to the level of a community educational setting; each center involves children in an interlocking set of interesting activities with microcomputers (including computer-based message systems)
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From page 43... ...
AS the AAAS report notes, demonstrations of success based upon shortterm funding of experiments does not insure uptake within the originally sponsoring institutions. Innovative educational successes have had long-term social failure built into them (AAAS, 1984; Stage et al., 1985)
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From page 44... ...
In other enterprises, this integrative function has been called systems design and engineering. The term probably originated in the telecommunications community, was continued and expanded in the aerospace industry, and has since been widely used wherever it has been recognized that proper design involves more than just assembling various components that have been developed in isolation.
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From page 45... ...
Of the major components illustrated, the area of technology is changing most rapidly, under the impact of current developments in computers, displays, interactive inputoutput devices, and communications and storage networks. New techniques for improving cognitive development, motivation, communication, and instructional processes have also evolved rapidly, as researchers into the fundamental aspects of these human faculties and behaviors gain knowledge that can be employed in developing teaching and learning methodologies.
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From page 47... ...
One that has proved effective in other fields is a free-standing entity different from any that currently exists in that it would use a systems approach to educational improvements rather than retrofit individual pieces, such as a new curriculum or an innovative form of classroom organization, into structures that may or may not be able to accommodate them successfully. Whatever the mechanism, the following characteristics are seen as essential to the integrative function:
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From page 48... ...
(3) Experiments and findings arising from local school operations need to be assessed and extended -- for example, practices from schools that consistently produce Westinghouse National Talent Search winners and results of state initiatives such as those going forward in Arizona, California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
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From page 49... ...
· What kinds of linkages need to be created with the many institutional entities that produce relevant knowledge, develop alternative educational components, and work with schools and teachers? Examples of such entities include mathematics, science, and engineering departments, behavioral and social science departments, and schools and departments of education in institutions of higher education; research centers and regional laboratories supported by the Department of Education; state education authorities and various state subunits providing services to schools; and the textbook and computer hardware and software industries.
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From page 50... ...
50 recommend a serious effort to design appropriate models for education analogous to systems design and engineering institutions in other fields that would use a systems approach in applying pertinent research and development to overall educational improvement. As a necessary first step, we recommend that the Department of Education, in concert with the National Science Foundation, convene a task force or similar group to think through the best means for carrying out the integrative and systems design function that is missing in current efforts to improve education, including consideration of such issues as organization, staffing, budgets, and linkages to other institutions.
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